Vampira is a Horror/Fantasy television picture directed by George Moorse. As with many internationally produced television pictures from the time, it is an incredibly obscure title. Today the film is perhaps only remembered for being the first film to feature an original score by the West German band, Tangerine Dream. 

Information relating to the production of Vampira is scarce. It is known that the film was aired on the 8th of December, 1971, at 10:00 PM on ARD-TV, in West Germany. Although, specific filming locations, & other aspects of the film's production are otherwise unknown. The film itself is divided into six vignettes, each bookended by Manifred Jester's character discussing various pieces of vampire lore.

The film is easily most memorable today for the haunting, atmospheric score produced by Tangerine Dream. At the time of the film's release, the band consisted of: Edgar Froese, Christoph Franke, & Peter Baumann. While the seventies incarnation of the group is largely remembered for their colossal Moog sequences, ethereal Mellotron choirs, electrifying Elka strings, cosmic EMS effects, & soaring guitar work (curtesy of Froese); this is one of the earlies documents of the Froese, Franke, Baumann incarnation. The trio were using combinations of Farfisa organs, EMS synthesizers, & primitive noise generators to create spacious, hypnogogic soundscapes which mesmerized audiences across their native Germany. Stylistically, Vampira's score is somewhere between the band's experimental 1971 record, Alpha Centauri, & their monolithic 1972 double LP, Zeit. 

Vampira, as with many films produced for television, never received a home video release on any format. It is possible that bootleg recordings taped from rebroadcasts of the film were in circulation amongst private collectors; although this remains as pure speculation on the part of The Tape Head Archive staff. As it is unknown if the film was ever broadcasted following it's initial showing in December of 1971. This upload of Vampira was originally found by TapaTalk user, GaryP11111; & appears to be taken directly from a copy of the original film reels. Our upload of his discovery is a mirror of the file that he had originally uploaded, as to preserve Moorse's film in the event that Gary's upload is lost at a future point in time. 

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